Ladybug’s Journey…

We have a bit going on medically with our little Ladybug and know that some of you have been loving her from afar since she was born!  We also know many of you are prayer warriors and will lift her up for us, so we decided to share her journey here on her blog as it unfolds. 

A bit of her back story to bring you up to speed…

At her 15 month appointment her physical development came into question since she wasn’t yet walking.  I wasn’t concerned at all since Pac Man didn’t walk until 15 1/2 months.  Time passed and she began starting to actually walk around 17 1/2 months and progressed for a few weeks.  She was never a solid walker but could make it a good ways on her own.  We even have several videos of her walking on her own!

Then, a few weeks later, she just stopped walking.  She refused to walk at all and even cried when we tried to encourage her.  She only walks on her knees, and uses that as her main mode of transportation now.It was then that my instincts told me there was something going on. 

We had her regular check-up at the pediatrician on 11/9/10 {almost 19 months}.  Our thoughts were confirmed and there is great concern that she is experiencing something that is affecting her physically.  She will barely even put her feet down and 99% of the time will not even attempt to walk now if we try to motivate her. She will stand up holding onto something and pull to standing, but just won’t walk and doesn’t even pull up as often as she used to.

We then saw a neurologist, and were very thankful for her pediatrician pulling strings to get us an appointment ASAP in a department that usually takes several weeks to get in.

The neurologist referred her to an orthopaedist to rule anything physical {broken bones, infection} out and we saw him within days and he ruled everything out within 15 minutes.  We were back to neurology and proceeding with scheduling an MRI.

Her first MRI was scheduled for 12/1/10 but she was coughing and had a runny nose so they had to cancel it.  Her second MRI was scheduled for 12/9/10 and that one happened.

It was a long day, as we expected it would be.  They took images of her brain and spine so she had to be sedated via IV for over 2 hours.  We are blessed to live near one of the best children's hospitals in the country, and they were wonderful.

She spent much of her waiting, crying and watching TV, she doesn’t like medical situations and can smell them a mile away! 

She was given a liquid sedative that made her very loopy and it was actually quite funny!  Then they put the IV in and she was a trooper for that.  She was very interested in the contraption on her hand and was a bit ticked off that she couldn’t suck that thumb {thankfully she sucks both}.

She came out of the MRI about 2 hours later and was very irritable once she finally woke up.  We went home within 30 minutes of her waking up and she slept all night peacefully.

Our AMAZING pediatrician has been on top of things from the beginning and has been calling us at home to support us through this process, we are SO blessed.  She called us at home the night of the MRI to tell us the initial findings.  We were VERY thankful to hear it wasn’t the worst we knew it could be-a tumor, cancer, or a major spinal problem.  They did however, find something in her brain, and we are waiting on the call from the neurologist to give us the details.   I will share that once we have them, he is supposed to call soon.

I will be keeping this blog updated for anyone who wants to follow her journey and pray for her as we walk this road. I also know that there may be someone out there struggling with the same things and I know our story could be used by God to encourage someone out there.  We share because it is God’s story.

Ladybug is a true joy in so many ways, such a blessing to our family.  I know many of you feel close to her by sharing in her life through Tot School.  Thank you for loving her from afar.

She is signing “Thank You”

~I am tagging these posts “Ladybug’s Journey” so if you ever want to read all of them, just click on that tag and it will pull up all of her medical posts.